In the past, information, particularly patient-related information, was usually provided only within an organizational unit (hospital, clinic, doctor's practice etc.). Thus, users who had computer network access within this facility could usually also access the patient-related data.
It is found to be a problem within this context that the patient-related data are usually stored in a distributed manner (e.g. in the respective departments of a hospital) and usually do not have any indexing. A quick and simple message concerning the question as to whether or not data records exist for a particular patient and, if so, where, without actually accessing the data is either not possible at all in the prior art or is possible only with the aid of time-consuming IT searches. Provision of patient-related data records beyond the boundaries of the institution (that is to say also outside of the respective clinic, outside of the doctors' practice, possibly even beyond national borders) has likewise not been possible to date.
However, as part of the health reform, it is meant to be possible for different institutions (e.g. hospitals, clinics, doctors' practices, health insurance companies etc.) to provide their data or the databases connected to them over the Internet. The entire health-related network therefore comprises different institutions with their databases and individual connected entities, in some cases beyond national borders. Health-related, computer-based, patient-related information is now meant to be available over a public network (e.g. the Internet). In this context, the problem arises, inter alia, that it is relatively difficult or complex to identify or find an individual patient-related data record within the distributed network without actually having to access the data record.